Hire an inventory clerk in Greater Montreal
Hiring an inventory clerk turns on one question: do you want someone who counts, or someone who orders? NOC 14403 pools both, and candidates arrive with one side or the other. This page gives you a job description to copy, requirements that hold up, and eight interview questions that get people talking about variances rather than software.
Job description to copy
Replace what is in brackets, then post it as is.
Inventory clerk
Location: [city], Greater Montreal · Schedule: [day / evening / night], [number] h per week
Pay: [to be set] (benchmark: median $23.50/h in Quebec, $24.04/h in Montreal (Job Bank))
Responsibilities
- Monitor stock levels as materials and items are issued
- Reconcile the inventory the system calculates with a manual count of what is on hand
- Run cycle counts and document every variance back to its cause
- Raise replenishment orders as soon as an item hits its reorder point
- Manage stock rotation, list obsolete and expired items and have them disposed of
- Enter the data feeding the production schedule, replenishment and stock transfers
- Review purchase requisitions, verify quantities and confirm the stockout before ordering
- Obtain prices from catalogues and suppliers and prepare purchase orders
- Chase suppliers on late deliveries, short shipments and missed orders
- Keep purchasing records, inventory reports and price lists current
Requirements
- Inventory control experience in a warehouse, plant or wholesale operation, backed by examples of variances actually traced
- Genuine comfort in an ERP or warehouse management system, which you name in the posting itself
- Secondary school completion, the usual entry requirement the National Occupational Classification lists for NOC 14403
- The ability to operate a computerized system, plus basic computer skills
- Understands a reorder point, a minimum level and a supplier lead time
- Forklift training under section 256.3 of the RSST if the role includes driving a lift truck
Assets
- Used to cycle counting rather than only the year-end physical inventory
- Experience on the purchasing side: catalogues, prices, chasing suppliers
- Courses in production and inventory control, or an AEC in supply management
- Knows the items you stock, especially if they carry an expiry date
- Functional English or French depending on your catalogues and suppliers
- Able to refuse an undocumented inventory adjustment without turning it into a fight
What we offer
[benefits, insurance, shift premiums, training]
Inventory clerk pay benchmark
| Region | Median | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $23.50/h | — |
| Montérégie | $25/h | $21.40 (21) |
| Montréal | $24.04/h | $20 (11) |
| Laval | $25.66/h | — |
| Lanaudière | $25.92/h | — |
| Laurentides | $25.49/h | — |
Median published by Job Bank (NOC 14403) and median offered in job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings.
Eight interview questions
- Which system did you keep, and what did you key into it yourself rather than receive from another department?
- Describe the last inventory variance you traced to its cause. What was it?
- How do you decide which items get counted this week instead of next month?
- What did you base a reorder point on, and who approved it?
- The system says zero and there are six on the shelf. What do you do, in order?
- How did you handle expired, obsolete or end-of-line items?
- Tell me about chasing a supplier who was running late. How did it end?
- In your last role, how much was purchasing and how much was counting?
Timelines and difficulties
Hiring an inventory clerk runs into the scope of the title first. NOC 14403 pools the purchasing clerk with the inventory control clerk, and the National Occupational Classification says outright that the two sets of duties overlap in some establishments. A posting that says only “inventory clerk” therefore pulls buying profiles and counting profiles alike, and leaves you sorting. Say which half you want, and in what proportion. The second difficulty is the neighbourhood: storekeepers sit in NOC 14401 and shippers and receivers in NOC 14400, and candidates from both apply to your postings because the titles look alike. Nothing wrong with considering them, but someone who has only ever worked the dock has not necessarily set a reorder point. The third is the system. Part numbers, locations and the way a variance gets coded are learned at your site and nowhere else: name your ERP in the posting, say what the person will key in themselves, and budget the ramp-up weeks instead of demanding your software at the door.
We run this search for employers in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore. Our recruitment service: warehousing and distribution
If the placement does not hold six months, we replace it.
The replacement is on us. You do not pay twice for the same role.
A role to fill?
Fifteen minutes on the phone is enough to know whether we can deliver your mandate, and to tell you straight whether the salary range holds.
Talk to a recruiter